Impress or Influence

Often we hear certain quotations that have a lasting impact on our lives; things that change how we think and how we evaluate the things we do.

In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren gives plenty of solid, Scriptural advice on how to live a life of purpose to impact God's Kingdom--for His honor and glory. Recognizing that living a life that has Kingdom-purpose requires several fork-in-the-road decisions, Warren offers up this pearl that greatly impacted my life: "At some point in your life, you must decide whether you want to impress people or influence people."

If we choose to be really honest with ourselves, we will find that much of what we do and many of the decisions we make are based on the impression we want to give others. Far too often, we want people to think we are smarter, richer and more successful than we really are. If we are going to be great at the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31), we must realize that it is far more important to influence people for God's Kingdom than to try and impress them with our own trumped up image of ourselves.

God's Word gives us plenty of motivation to move in the right direction. Proverbs 13:7 tells us that those who live a showy life actually have nothing of real, eternal value. One day, we will all stand before God to give an account for our life (Romans 14:10-12) and He will certainly be far less impressed with our possessions and our bank accounts. As God's men, we were made for eternity, so it stands to reason that our Heavenly Father is more interested in things that have eternal value. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:19-20).